Garden of Flames
by XxVongola-DetectivexX
Summary: Years have passed since the time of Vongola Decimo, and now the 19th vongola is has turned things full circle, something the 20th does not think right. Now he sends the 20th, who he feels is too weak to run the Vongola, to Balamb Garden to make him into a successful leader. Rather he wants to be one or not. ON HIATUS!
1. chapter 1

_Inside chopper_

"Are you ready? I do hope you appreciate all the effort it took to get you accepted into this school."

"Whatever, you're the one who wants me to go, I don't really have a say in the matter, so complaining or being thankful won't change the fact that I have to put up with it."

"And I expect you to come home a more capable leader then you are now my dear Skyy."

"Piss off old man."

"Now then Skyy, is talking like that anyway to treat the head of your family? The family that you'll be running in due time mind you."

"This isn't **my** family, it's nothing but shell," The young man said with venom when he spoke.

"Watch your tone you brat," the old man shot back, "Or you won't be around to run it."

He took a moment to compose himself.

"Whatever the case, this school will teach you how to be a strong leader, and when you return to the Vongola you had best be ready to lead it."

"Your Vongola," he paused as he went to step out of the recently landed chopper, "Isn't worth leading."

_Head Masters Office_

"Skyy is it?"

"That is correct head master Cid."

"Well by the looks of these reports and test scores, he seems to be quite the capable young lad doesn't he?" The head master asked with a smile.

"Indeed, it would seem that way," The young girl answered him.

"Well his chopper should be here soon shouldn't it? I should go and greet him when it arrives."

"He's just landed actually, he is on his way to the lobby waiting to be called up," the young girl corrected him.

"Oh I see," the head master glanced at his watch, seeing if it was perhaps running slow, "Well then Xu, please send him up so we can get the interview over with, i'm quite anxious to meet this young man."

"Yes head master."

The young girl left for the lobby to retrieve the young man and bring him back to the headmasters office.

_A Vongola candidate will be attending Balamb Garden hmm? This should prove to be quite interesting indeed. He could prove to be quite formidable if nurtured right. A perfect candidate for SeeD if I do say so myself_, he smiled to himself as he thought of this.

As the head master was lost in his thoughts, he failed to notice the return of the young girl he sent out or the young man who was with her until she had announced their presence to him.

"Head master Cid, the new student is present," she said, directing her hand in his direction.

Hearing this the head master quickly snapped out of his thoughts and noticed the new student standing before him. He looked to be in his late teens, wearing a simple t-shirt and pair or worn blue jeans, he had short, light brown hair that reached only slightly down his neck with strands in front of his face, reaching just under his eyebrows, allowing his eyes to stay visable and unrestriced, and wore an expression that could only be described as tired.

"Well now, you must be Skyy," the head master said with a smile as he stood to greet the new student, "Well I must say your scores here are certainly impressive, so if you'd like, we'll get straight to the interview, just a way of getting to know you, nothing to personal I assure. Xu could you give us some privacy."

"Of course head master."

The young girl bowed and took her leave from the office.

"Now then Skyy, let's begin shall we?"

"Fine with me." He answered.

_Inside Chopper_

"Are you sure about this sir? He may not turn out the way you want him to. In fact it may even amplify his personality as it is," came a voice from the old mans phone.

"As long as he learns what strength and power means, i'll take care of the rest, and make him the way I want him. With or without his consent," the old man said with a devilish grin

"If you say so diciannovesimo."

"Just remember to send him the package, i'm sure he is bound to find some good, strong candidates for the positions."

"Yes sir, i'll get it read immediatly."

The old man closed his phone and smiled as he pictured the young man he had just dropped off coming back as a fighter worthy of leading what he believed to be the strongest family in history.

"You're going to become a worthy successor my dear Skyy, even if that famous heritage of yours has to be beaten out of you."

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A/N

Ciaossu. Well here it is folks, the prologue for Garden of flames is done and posted. So what do you guys think of a FF8xKHR crossover? Yay or nay? Reviews are loved and appreciated, and feel free to share with your friends. :3

*Diciannovesimo: Italian for nineteenth.


	2. chapter 2

It was early in the morning, and the Balamb Garden discipline committee, which consisted of the proclaimed leader of the group, Seifer Almasy, and his two friends who he was rarely, if ever, seen without, Fujin and Raijin, were on their way to the cafeteria, strictly ensuring that all students were following the rules of the garden as they went.

"You there," shouted Seifer, "A weeks detention for being late!" He pointed his finger to someone who had just run into the lobby from the front gates.

"What," the young boy exclaimed in horror, "but Seifer that's not-"

"TWO." He was cut off by Fujin.

The young man wanted to argue this, but decided against it, lest he end up spending the rest of his school year in detention. He simply nodded in agreement with the committee and went to his classes, dreading the two weeks detention he had been given.

"Haha," Raijin began to laugh as they continued their way to the cafeteria, "Kinda harsh to do that to the newbies, ya know?"

"NEGATIVE," Fujin responded with a swift kick to Raijins shin, receiving satisfying yelp when she did.

As they entered the cafeteria, they ordered their breakfast, which didn't take long as everyone decided to let them go first, for fear of having their detention based wrath fall upon them. They picked a table in the far corner, so they wouldn't be bothered, but could have a good view of the place in case any punishment is in need of being given. As they ate their food, they could over hear two students talking amongst themselves.

"Hey did you hear about that new transfer student we're supposed to be getting?"

"Oh yeah, a Vongola kid right?"

"Yeah, apparently he did so well on his tests that he's getting to go ahead and take today's SeeD test!"

"What? That's bullshit, we worked our asses off for months to be able to take that test and their just gonna let this guy go ahead and take it his first day?"

"Heh, well we'll just have to show him some Balamb **hospitality **when we meet him won't we?"

Both students began to snicker at this, with cocky grins on their face.

"Yo a Vongola is coming here," Raijin said with a mixed look of shock and amazement, "and Cid's letting him take today's test? He must be crazy strong to get him to agree to something like that ya know?"

"AFFIRMATIVE." Fujin nodded in agreement.

"Heh well we'll just have to see how strong he is for ourselves when we meet him during the test, if this rumor rings true anyway." Seifer said as he rubbed the diagonal scar on his face. His reward for his early morning bout with another student.

_Why would a Vongola candidate come here, _Fujin wondered to herself, _They're one of the strongest groups in terms of military might, so why have one of their members come here? Surely they could be trained just as well or better by their own group._

When Fujin had looked up, done with her thoughts, she noticed someone enter the cafeteria. She'd never seen him before, and assumed from the bag slung over his shoulder that he must have been a new student.

"Hey you think that's the guy?"

"It must be, check out that ring he's wearing."

Overhearing this, Fujin looked at the newcomer to see what they meant. It was rather difficult to see from the distance between, but she could make out a silver ring with what seemed to be a blue stone set in it. As he came closer to the tables, holding his tray in his free hand the two students gossiping earlier had come up behind him.

"Hey newbie," One of the students called, trying to get his attention.

"You that Vongola kid we been hearing so much about?"

_Why do I get the feeling this isn't going to be a warm welcome kind of conversation,_ Skyy thought to himself as he sat his tray on the table and hung his bag on the back of his chair before turning to face them. "Sorry, the name's Skyy," he said lazily, "Not Vongola kid. Guess you must have me confused with someone else."

"Well now, looks like we have a smart ass here. Is using a tone like that anyway for a newbie like you to talk to your seniors?"

"You're gonna learn that being a Vongola doesn't get you any special treatment here kid, and you'd best learn that if you want to survive you pampered little shit," one of the students said before noticing the tray of food on the table, "hey now that looks pretty good, and I'm feeling kinda hungry, so why don't you be a good little brat and hand it over."

A smile came across Skyy's face when he said this and went to grab his tray.

"All right then, since you asked so nicely," Before the student could blink skyy was already in front of him, only to be followed by his breakfast and a hard metal tray after that, slamming the student in the face.

"Eat up," Skyy said with a smirk.

The discipline committee watched in amusement as the spectacle before them unfolded.

"Well he **did **ask for it," Raijin commented, chuckling as he did so, "can't write the guy up for following a senior students order ya know?"

"AFFIRMATIVE," Fujin agreed with a sly smile that vanished just as soon as it appeared.

Seifer didn't say anything, though he did smile, preferring to see where this fight was going to lead to rather than breaking it up as he normally would.

"You litte punk!" the other student had charged after him, but his attack was short lived as he soon found himself laying on the ground in bewilderment. He and Skyy both looked to see who had flipped him and saw another student, his hair was blonde and spikey, and he had a tattoo across the left side of his face.

"Two on one isn't very fair you know," the student said as he wiped his gloved hands together before noticing the other student covered in today's breakfast and began snickering, "though it doesn't look like the new guy is having much trouble with you." The tattooed student walked over to Skyy and extended his hand to shake, "The name's Zell, what's yours?"

Skyy took his hand in his, giving the blond student a firm shake, "Skyy." _Well at least not everyone here tries to pick on the new guy it seems. _

The two attacking students stood back up and went to each other's side only to receive a dagger like stare from Skyy. "This is getting out of hand," he spoke, a hint of annoyance in his tone, "I'd rather this not get turned into a full blown fight, so I suggest you leave now before the infirmary gets a new set of visitors."

Before the two could even retort the discipline committee decided to make themselves known.

"I'd listen to the newbie if I were you," Seifer said as he walked toward the group, "because right now you two would be the only ones getting in trouble after this for assaulting a fellow student, and that would follow after the ass kicking you get."

Skyy looked at the oncoming group curiously, and looked the trio up and down.

He looked at Seifer first, who had short blond blond hair combed back, blue-green eyes, looked to be a few inches taller than Skyy, wore a blue vest with a white cross on the front and a foot-length grey coat, and a diagonal scar down the right side of his face, from his forehead just past the bridge of his nose.

Then he turned to Raijin behind him, who had dark skin, was wearing an open purple vest, exposing his large chest to to all, and a large beaded necklace was worn around his neck.

The last person he turned was Fujin, who had short silver hair, wore a royal blue jacket and some dark stretch pants, and curiously enough she wore an eye patch over her left eye. Her right eye remained visible though, and showed a ruby red color, in contrast to the sapphire blue eyes Skyy had.

The two trouble makers decided it would be best to back down seeing as they were now outnumbered five to two, and took off from the cafeteria at full speed.

Skyy let out a short sigh, "My first day here and people already want to fight me, how annoying." He went and grabbed his bag from the chair and slung it back over his shoulder. As he did this, the others were able to see his ring in full view, and there in the center of the jewel was the word Vongola, plain as day.

"So it's true," Seifer said when he noticed, "a Vongola attending our school. And you don't seem half bad in a fight."

"Whoa," Zell exclaimed, his face covered in excitement, "a Vongola here? Awesome, I bet you're like super strong!"

Skyy simply shrugged it off, "Who knows? I guess we'll find out during the SeeD test today."

At this Zell and Raijin's jaws hit the floors, Seifer smiled, and fujin was simply stoic, showing now signs of surprise or amazement towards hearing this. Not that she wasn't curious, but she was never one to show her emotions around others.

"If headmaster Cid is letting you take the test on your first day you really **must **have to be crazy strong ya know?" Raijin said after finally collecting himself.

"Whose class are you supposed to be reporting to right now?" Seifer asked after noticing what time it was on the clock in the cafeteria.

Skyy pulled out a folded sheet of paper from his pocket and looked at it.

"Instructor Trepe."

"Ah man," Zell spoke with disappointment, "not in the same class, bummer. Maybe I'll see you during the test then, gotta go." At this Zell took off towards his own class room, with Raijin waving and soon following suit, leaving Skyy, Seifer, and Fujin to themselves.

"Looks like you're with us," Seifer said gesturing to himself and Fujin, "come on, her classroom is on the second floor.

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"I see, well it's a pleasure to have you join us Skyy, I am you Instructor, Quistis Trepe." The instructor stated as she read the paper Skyy handed her. She didn't look like she could be any older than some of the students, though the way she had her hair bunched up and her glasses made her appear to be slightly older than she probably was.

Seifer and Fujin had already taken their seats in the classroom as Skyy was being introduced by Quistis.

"Class this is Skyy, our new student as well as a fellow SeeD candidate like all of you and will be joining us in today's test." The was an uproar of whispering at this between all the others in class, that is except for Fujin and Seifer who had already known about it. Quistis scanned the room before turning back to Skyy. "Skyy, why don't you take a seat next to Fujin." Skyy obliged and went to the desk next to her. A curt nod was her response when he waved at her after walking up to the desk.

As Trepe spoke to everyone about the SeeD test about to take place, another student came into the room. He wore a dark leather jacket with a fur trim collar and a white V-neck undershirt, some black pants with what looked to be a few interconnecting belts, he had brown unruly hair, and a familiar scar across his face. _This guy is like the polar opposite of that Seifer guy. Even the scars on their faces are mirrored with this guys going down his left side...I wonder...Nah, probably just a coincidence...right?, _Skyy thought to himself.

"Glad you could join us Squall, please take your seat." Trepe told the student.

As the instructor went on, Skyy and Fujin couldn't help but get bored and become lost in their thoughts.

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A/N

Ciaossu. Behold, the first official full-length chapter! reviews and shares are loved and appreciated. Till next time signing off :)


	3. Chapter 3

**_Skyy Pov:_**

While resting his head on his hand, he couldn't help but steal a glance at Fujin, who he noticed was doing the same. They quickly averted their eyes to avoid an awkward eye contact moment. While lost in his thoughts he noticed how everything about her just fit perfectly. How her Silver hair complimented her royal blue jacket, with her crimson red eye providing balance between the colors. Even the eye patch she wore over her left eye seemed to suit her, almost making it seem like it would be impossible to picture her without it. _I wonder why she needs it? What happened? Meh, not my place to ask something personal like that, especially since we just met. She puts up a tough front, but really she seems so…cute. _

* * *

**_Fujin pov:_**

After narrowly avoiding eye contact with Skyy, she soon became lost in her own thoughts about him as well. _I wasn't expecting him to look at me, but why did I turn away, it's not like I was doing any thing wrong, it's only natural for someone to be curious about a new student, especially someone with his background. But why did I become so shy when he noticed me staring. He doesn't have a very muscular build, but he still seems to be quite capable when he was fighting earlier, fast too. I wonder just what kind of build he's hiding, _a hint of red came across he face which she quickly shook away, _what am I thinking like that for. _She chanced another glance at him, hoping he wasn't still staring in her direction. Luckily for her he was already lost in his own thoughts now. _He doesn't seem like the Vongola type, they're generally known for being ruthless and showing no mercy to people who attack or threaten them, but earlier he didn't seem to have any interest in the fight, and even gave them a chance to end it and run away despite having the upper hand. Why would he do something like that?_

* * *

Both Fujin and Skyy were snapped back to reality at the sound of the bell going off, indicating that class was over with.

"So class, you have a bit of time to kill before the SeeD test begins, and you may spend it how you like. Squall, may I see you for a moment before you leave?"

"Fujin," Skyy said as he turned to face her.

Fujin raised her head up to look at him, his dark sapphire blue eyes meeting her crimson one.

"I have no interest in being anything like the people in the Vongola the old man runs, so please," his eyes gave off an almost sorrowful look as he spoke, "don't compare me to the Vongola the way it is now."

A shocked expression came over her face, but it was short lived as she regained her stoic self and simply Nodded. _How did he know what I was thinking? _

When they left the class room, he noticed the look she was giving him and answered what she was thinking. He pointed to his head, "Vongola Intuition. Apparently I'm the first to show it in quite a while, though no one knows why it stopped in the first place," He shrugged. "So in other words my intuition is higher than normal and I can pick up on things easier than most, but don't worry I'm not psychic or anything, just a really good guesser," he said to reassure her after seeing the look he was getting.

As the two went to the elevator, he paused and turned back to Fujin who was following behind him. "Hey quick question."

"ASK."

"How do I get to the dorms? The head master never told me and I didn't get to look around before class because of everything that happened in the cafeteria this morning."

Fujin nodded, and when they got off the elevator at the lobby she looked up at him, "FOLLOW." Was all she said, and Skyy nodded.

She led him around to the back of the lobby where the Dorms were located. She contemplated leaving him, but decided he'd probably get lost trying to find which room was his. Also she was curious about him, so she decided to keep leading him.

"So there aren't any rules about girls going to a guy's dorm?" Skyy asked as Fujin lead him pass the rooms.

"NEGATIVE."

"Hmm, seems odd that they'd just let a bunch of teenagers go into another genders dorm, but I'm not complaining since it means you can help me find everything." He chuckled and gave her a warm smile.

"AFFIRMATIVE," she looked away as she spoke, trying to hide the redness that showed up when he smiled at her. _Why am I acting this way around him, and why has my heart rate increased._

"PAPER." She held her hand out towards him.

"Oh, right." He handed the paper he'd shown Seifer earlier to find his class.

Fujin looked at it, finding the dorm he was assigned and finished leading him to it.

"Thank you Fujin, I probably never would have found it without you," he smiled at her again, causing her to turn away again.

He walked in to check out his new dorm room with Fujin following behind, placing the sack on his bed which she walked over to. As he turned around he was hit in the face with a jacket flung at him by Fujin.

"CHANGE," She said pointing at the jacket, then to the rest of the clothes in the bag.

Skyy smiled. Not wanting to let an opportunity like this pass him by, he put on the most charming look he could manage. "Well this is an enjoyable surprise," he said walking over to Fujin , causing her to look at him quizzically, "We've only just met and you're already trying to see me naked? That's so bold, I like that in a woman. Especially ones as cute as you," he gave her a sly wink.

Fujin practically invented a new shade of red at hearing this, causing Skyy to break his charming persona and laugh hysterically at her appearance.

"The look on your face is priceless right now," He said through his fits of laughter.

Fujin didn't find it quite as funny. She decided to get him back.

When he finally looked back up at her after finishing his laughing fit, he saw Fujin starting to unbutton her jacket letting him see the black tank top she wore under it, and he turned just as red as she had been. "Fujin wait a second I was just joking around, don't start stripping in my room!" he waved his hands frantically as he spoke. Seeing this Fujin stopped and smirked at him. "PRICELESS," she pointed at him.

He was dumbstruck for a moment. Then it hit him.

"It would seem the tables got turned on me, not bad." He laughed at the fact that his own joke had effortlessly been turned against him.

"EVEN," She told him before starting to chuckle herself.

Fujin and Skyy couldn't stop themselves from laughing, or slightly chuckling in Fujins' case, at what happened for a good while. When they had finally settled down, they both sat on his bed and caught their breaths.

"Don't worry," Skyy suddenly spoke up looking at Fujin, "I won't tell anybody how hard I made you laugh and managed to brake that stoic nature of yours, it seems like something you'd be embarrassed to have others hear about, so it'll be our little secret," He winked at her, causing her to smile.

"SECRET."

"Damn look at the time," Skyy said looking at his watch, "I really do need to get changed before the test starts," he looked back over at Fujin who was getting ready to leave, "You're welcome to stay and watch," he snickered.

Fujin smirked and looked back at him, "Maybe some other time."

Hearing her speak more than one monotone word, Skyy became dumbstruck, "Well what do you know, you can spe-"

Fujin walked up to Skyy and put a finger to his lips. "SECRET," she said, mimicking the wink he gave her before leaving.

"Fujin huh? What an interesting person," Skyy said to himself smiling as he changed into his new uniform.

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A/N

Ciaossu. Another chapter up and ready for reading, I hope everyone is enjoying the story so far.

As always, please leave a review if you liked it or criticize it, they're all appreciated. Till next time :)


	4. Chapter 4

_**Fujin pov:**_

After making her way back to her own dorm room, Fujin let out a small sigh and smiled, dropping the stoic face she held since leaving Skyy's room.

She unbuttoned her jacket and hung it over the chair at her desk, reveling her black tank top underneath. She let out a small chuckle after remembering how red Skyy turned after she started doing that in front of him. She laid down on her bed and closed her eyes, trying to get some rest before it was time for the test.

_It was only fair after that stunt he pulled, _she thought to herself. _But I wonder...could I maybe...be his type? _She questioned herself as she pictured her physique. She was short and slender, but was also powerfully toned and could hold her own in a fight if she needed to. She even managed to somehow keep her curves despite the heavy training she goes through.

_Maybe he could just be the type that flirts with any girl he sees, and I was simply the only one there...no, despite that charming facade he pulled, he doesn't seem the player type to me, but then again I don't really know anything about him seeing as how we just met. But he couldn't REALLY be interested in me. Could he? I mean again we just met today so he knows just as much about me as I do him. Still though..._Fujin blushed slightly as she thought about Skyy actually finding her attractive.

She shook her head to try and recompose herself and shake her thoughts about Skyy from her mind. _I need to get my head straight, today's the SeeD test and I can't do anything to jeopardize it. Maybe I should just talk to Skyy later. Why do I care though? And what is this damn pounding in my chest, it's being going on ever since I started thinking about how close he got during his little spectacle and that smile of his. It feels like my chest is going to burst. How annoying. _

She pulled her pillow over her face as she tried once more to get some rest, though it didn't seem that is was going to work anytime soon. She gave up and decided she may as well go ahead and wait in the lobby for the the others to hear the instructions for the test.

* * *

_**Skyy pov:**_

_Not a bad look, _Skyy thought to himself as he looked at himself in the mirror, decked out in his new Balamb Garden uniform, _damn do I look good in black, and this jacket is loose enough to allow for some pretty good movement speed, still prefer my shirt and jeans though, oh well rules are rules. _His thoughts soon drifted from self admiration back towards Fujin. _So my first day here and I'm already trusted with two secrets from someone I just met, and it's about how she spoke more than a single word around me and how hard I made her laugh. Of all things to keep secret. _He chuckled to himself at this. After checking what time it was on his watch, he finished admiring himself in the mirror and left the dorm to head for the lobby.

* * *

On the way from the dorms, Skyy and Fujin ran into each other and, after she made sure no one was around to see her, Fujin gave him a quick smile, which he returned. She looked him up and down, looking at him in his new Balamb Garden uniform, and after her second pass gave him a curt nod.

"IMPRESSED."

"Glad you approve," he chuckled at the sudden compliment, "I kinda like it, it's pretty stylish and also," he seemingly vanished from in front of Fujin and quickly appeared by her side, "It doesn't reduce my speed any."

The sudden appearance of Skyy next her startled her, though she wouldn't let it show...much.

"FAST," she said, trying to keep her stoic face on, though it did little to hide how stiff she got, if only for a moment. She hoped he didn't notice so he wouldn't be able to make any quips about how easy it was to startle her._ How the hell did he do that?_

"Years of practice," he said as they started walking towards the lobby, "mainly running from things to be honest," He laughed and rubbed the back of his head. After another sweep of the area, Fujin chuckled with him.

They made their way to the center of the lobby, were they saw that the others were already gathered, waiting to hear about the SeeD test.

"Ah Skyy, Fujin, you're just in time," Quistis said as she raised her glasses, "you two will be on squad B with Seifer, myself, and Squall. While Zell and Raijin here will be part of squad A."

"Ah man, I was hoping Skyy and I would be on the same squad, I really wanna see how strong you are man," Zell said as he hung his head down.

"How about a sparring session when we get back?" Skyy suggested, trying to raise Zells spirits.

It worked.

"Really? You mean it?" Zells eyes practically lit up like stars when he heard this.

Fujin laughed at this on the inside, but she wasn't about to break her usual self in front of someone...again.

"Sure thing," He smiled back at Zell and gave him a thumbs up.

"Pardon me you two, but if you're done talking about your after test plans," Quistis started up, "then perhaps you'd like to hear about the actual test?" she tapped her foot impatiently, prompting a chuckle from Seifer and an annoyed sigh from Squall.

"Yes mam! Sorry!" They spoke and gulped in unison.

"All squads are to head to the Balamb docks," she continued, "and from there we will head to Dollet Town. The use of a school car has been permitted to get Balamb quickly. In addition there will be SeeD members on standby in the event that the mission goes south, so that should ease the pressure somewhat, but don't get careless."

As everyone headed towards the gardens garage to get their cars, Fujin started drifting and became lost in her thoughts again.

_Maybe I should have talked to him on the way here. But I don't really want to talk to him about that stuff with people watching or if someone might show up and over hear us. Between the car ride, the boat ride, the test, and the match he just promised Zell it looks like I won't be able to have him to myself for a while. _She blushed at her own thought of having him to herself. She shifted her gaze towards Skyy who noticed and smiled at her, causing her to turn away and blush again for the umpteenth time since meeting him. _How has he managed to make me do this so many times today and I've only managed to get that reaction from him once. Maybe when we get back I'll try..._Before she could finish her though she noticed that they were all in the garage now and getting ready to head to Balamb.

_Balamb docks_

"Hurry up you guys, you're the last squads left!" A SeeD member shouted at the group as they pulled up to the dock.

"YIKES! See you guys there! Raijin let's book it!" Zell exclaimed at hearing the SeeD member, and he and Raijin took off towards the Squad A vessel.

"That guy gets worked up to easily." Squall said as he watched the two speed off.

"We'd better hurry or we'll wish we were as fast as them," Quistis told him, "let's hurry on then."

They all nodded in unison and boarded their vessel, and set course for Dollet town.

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A/N

Hope you guys are enjoying the story despite the changes I've been making to the FF8 parts. Also be forewarned that I will probably use hammerspace in this simply for convenience (yeah i'm lazy i know.) In the meantime, Reviews and shares are loved and appreciated :3


	5. Chapter 5

The group on the Squad B assault gunboat consisted of Skyy, Fujin, Squall, Seifer, Quistis, and Xu, who Skyy remembered as the girl who led him to the head masters office earlier that day. Once everyone had taken a seat, Xu began briefing everyone on the mission at hand.

"As you know, this ship is headed towards Dollet," she began, "and it has recently been attacked by Galbadian forces. Their goal seems to be the radio tower. We are unsure what their purpose of taking it is. We first received word from the Dollet Parliament about the invasion a little less than a day ago, and it seems the fighting has been going on for roughly three days."

"Those are some determined people to go on that long," Seifer said on hearing it.

"One is fighting for something they want, and the other is fighting to protect their home. Of course they're both going to be determined to win," Squall spoke up.

"Anyway," Xu continued, "the galbadians have the Dollet army outmatched and outnumbered, within 49 hours the Dollet forces were forced to abandon their defenses in the inner city and retreat towards the mountain path here," she directed everyone to the monitor showing the layout of Dollet before continuing further, "to reorganize their remaining forces. After roughly 54 hours, the Dollet parliament saw the gravity of the situation, and sent word to the garden for SeeD to help. That is where you all come in," she directed attention back to the monitor, "the gunboats are going to be landing on the beach here, for the initial assault on the town. Now then squad B, that would be you 4, are charged with eliminating enemy forces in the town square, and then guarding it from any counter attacks the galbadian forces try."

"Sounds easy enough. Clear out a few bad guys and keep more from coming. How hard could it be?" Skyy said cupping his hands behind his head and laying back.

"Ha, I like your style newbie," Seifer said with a smirk.

"The galbadian military aren't going to go without a fight," Quistis interrupted, "so don't take them lightly."

"AFFIRMATIVE," Fujin said as she nodded towards Quistis before turning back to Xu.

"Now then, the leader of the squad for this operation will be Seifer," She said gesturing towards him, causing a large smile to come across his face, "and I want you to understand that the order to retreat comes above all else during that mission, is that understood?" She looked at Seifer questioningly.

"Kick everyone's ass but run away if ordered. Oh how fun that sounds," he said mockingly towards Xu who scowled at him, "yeah yeah I get it, get it already sheesh. Squall, Go up top and see what's going on."

"Alright," Squall replied rather nonchalantly.

"That's right, because it was **my** order," Seifer said with a smug grin on his face.

_Jeez I think they made a mistake leaving Seifer in charge, _Fujin and Skyy thought in unison, with doubtful expressions on their faces.

A few moments later Squall came back in and told everyone that they were approaching the beach and would be there in a few minutes. Everyone nodded and the next few minutes were spent in silence.

* * *

The ship shook slightly as it landed on the beach, and the hatch opened revealing a devastated city just past the beach they landed at.

"All right everyone," Seifer started as they got out of the ship, "everyone to the town square, and put down ANYONE who gets in our way."

"Right!" the others said in unison.

The group ran up the stairs and into the city, passing by other Garden cadets following their own orders. On the way to the square, a few galbadian soldiers tried to ambush the group, only to be quickly dispatched by Squall and Seifer.

"Whoa," Skyy said in awe at seeing this, "gunblades? I've never actually met anyone who can use them."

He looked at the two blades closely. He recognized the one Squall was using from a weapons magazine he read on the way here. It was called Revolver if he remembered right. Probably named after the revolver styled handle used to wield it. His looked slightly different though, his had what looked like a lion etched on both sides of the blade, and a key chain with another lion on it as well.

He couldn't recognize the one Seifer was using though. It used a handgun as it's handle, and the blade became more narrow and sharp as it went. Perhaps Seifer's is custom made he figured.

"Well now you know two," Seifer smirked as he tapped the blade of his sword on his shoulder "and I'm the best one at the garden." This earned him a glare from Squall, though it didn't last long though, as he turned his attention elsewhere.

"The square is just up ahead, lets hurry and-" before Skyy knew it, his intuition was going crazy and he turned around quickly, "behind us!" he shouted at the others.

Fujin was the first to turn around, and before the others could even draw their weapons, the soldier that was trying to sneak up on them was out cold.

"Impressive," Skyy said looking at Fujins weapon as it came back to her causing a smug smirk to appear from her.

Her weapon looked like a chakram, and seemed pretty fast judging by how quick it came back to her. He didn't know what it was exactly, but he figured it suited her with how effortless the attack looked.

The squad made their way to the square, and when they got there they were quickly surrounded on all sides by the soldiers occupying it.

"Now this is more like it," Seifer said as he swung his gunblade towards a group of soldiers.

"Hey leave some for the rest of us dear leader," Skyy joked before getting into a fighting stance, prepared to handle his group.

Squall and Fujin were silent as they prepared to take on their own groups.

It didn't take long for the four of them to take down all the soldiers around them. Squall and Seifer were using their excellent swordsmanship skills to take down theirs, while Fujin was swapping between using her missile blade to take down rows of soldiers, and finishing off the remaining ones with a slew of punches. Skyy was using his speed to his advantage to get past the soldiers defenses, and landing knockout blows on each of them with amazing speed.

"Damn, you're pretty fast Skyy, those punks probably didn't even know what hit them," Seifer told him, sounding rather impressed.

Skyy simply shrugged, "When everyone is out to kill you, you learn how to hold your own growing up."

_What does he mean 'when everyone is out to kill you?" I know he's a Vongola, but even so, that sounds a little extreme, _Fujin thought to herself.

"So now what," Skyy asked to no one in particular as he looked around the, aside from the unconscious soldiers, empty square, "we just supposed to stay here waiting to get attacked now?"

The group hung around the square, waiting for any more soldiers to come along, as they're orders were to make sure that the square can't be taken back over by enemy forces.

Skyy let out a small sigh and started doing some stretches to keep warmed up. "All this standing around is so bor-"

"Quickly this way!" he heard someone shout.

"Quick everyone take cover," he motioned to the others.

They all did as they were told, though Seifer wasn't quite as happy about it, seeing as he was the squad leader. While they were hiding, two more soldiers came running into the town square, and the others listened in on their conversation.

"Quickly, the forces at the radio tower need back up!"

"Why won't these damn people just give up all ready? Let's go!"

The soldiers took off towards the mountains, and the group came out of hiding.

"Did you guys hear that?" Seifer asked turning back towards them.

"AFFIRMATIVE," Fujin nodded.

"They're heading towards the tower, what should we do?" Skyy asked, looking towards the path the two soldiers took, "The Dollet forces won't stand a chance if they get hit from behind."

"AGREED," Fujin said crossing her arms, then looked to Seifer for orders.

"Well if we can kick their asses at the tower then we can end this thing all ready. So as squad leader, I order that we move in on the tower. Any complaints?"

"NEGATIVE," Fujin said shaking her head as she flung her arm down.

"None here," Skyy said with a smirk.

"The leaders orders are final," Squall said shrugging.

" 'The leaders orders are final'? you just want to raise some hell too don't you squall?," Seifer asked squall who shrugged him off and turned away. Seifer turned back to the path the soldiers took, "let's go kick these sorry galbadian asses!"

The others nodded in agreement, and the four took off towards the radio tower.

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A/N

Charge to the tower! Beat all galbadians! XD

remember, reviews are love :3 Till next time, signing off!


	6. Chapter 6

"Alright, so we get to the tower, take out of every galbadian soldier there, and end this fight already," Seifer told the group as they all ran towards the Dollet radio tower.

"I like it," Skyy spoke up, "it's simple and easy to remember," He grinned from ear to ear.

Fujin and Squall nodded in silence.

When they came to the mountain path leading to the tower, they found a downed Dollet soldier at the bottom of the path.

"You guys…must be the SeeD's…we asked for," the soldier said through exhausted pants, "be careful, there are monsters that have made their nests on the mount-" before he could finish speaking, something in the bushes grabbed him and started pulling him into them, "No, please don't! Save me!" he shouted at the group of cadets.

"Shit we have to help him!" Skyy shouted as he ran towards whatever it was that attacked the man.

"CAUTION!" Fujin called, but it was too late for that, as whatever was in bushes had pounced out at him and nailed him with its tail.

"Shit look out, it's an anacondaur!" Squall shouted as the monster emerged.

Skyy was knocked back several feet by the snake-like creatures attack and into the rock wall. "Well now, that was unexpected," he clutched his side when he spoke.

"Stand back and let a pro handle this thing," Seifer spoke up, charging forward with his gunblade at the ready, slicing the creature in two with a powerful swing of it.

Fujin went over to Skyy to help him to his feet.

"CONDITION?" she asked, noticing that he was holding his side after the attack.

"Don't worry, just got the wind knocked out of me is all," he chuckled and gave her a small smile to show that he was fine before waving her off, "let's hurry and get going before more of these damn things show up though."

The group headed up the mountain path, taking out any monsters or g-soldiers that got in their way. After traversing the path, they came up to a cliff that overlooked the path to the radio tower. They hunched down and watched as they saw two soldiers head inside the tower.

"Well there it is," Skyy said looking at the tower, "now what?"

"Squall you're with me, let's get in there and take out everyone and get this over with. Fujin and Skyy, you two stay out here and deal with any reinforcements that show up, there's no telling how many might come for us once we start raising hell in there."

"UNDERSTOOD," Fujin said jumping off the cliff onto the tower's path.

"Just don't take too long," Skyy said preparing to jump as well, "this mission is taking to long as it is." He jumped down after Fujin.

"Heh, who do you think you are, barking orders at your squad leader like that. Come on squall!" Squall and Seifer soon jumped down off the cliff as well.

"Alright you two post up out here, this won't take long," Seifer told Fujin and Skyy as he and Squall took off into the tower.

* * *

_**Fujin and Skyy:**_

Fujin and Skyy were standing guard outside of the Dollet radio tower, waiting for either Seifer and squall to call them for back-up or for galbadian reinforcements to show up and work to keep them out. While they were waiting for one or the other to happen, Fujin couldn't help but at least try to start a conversation about, well anything really, to try and break the silence. She found it odd that she preferred talking with him over having the silence she had grown accustomed to over the years, seeing as how she wasn't exactly known for being sociable with people other than Seifer and Raijin.

"SKYY?" she started and looked over at him.

"Hmm? What's up Fujin?"

_Something, anything! Talk about anything!_

"WEAPON?" she asked pointing towards him.

_Except that...Try to start a conversation and end up talking about weapons...I really am terrible at this, _she mused to herself.

"Huh? Oh that," he stood up from the spot he was resting at, "Well...normally I use a pair of gloves that I got some time ago when I was being tested as worthy Vongola candidate, but since I didn't know anything about the forces here I didn't feel like using my full power from the get go. I prefer to study my opponents first before deciding if I should go all out."

"SHOW," She said with a curious expression on her face as she.

_Well...we're talking at least, I guess that's a start, _She thought to herself.

Skyy couldn't help but chuckle at the fact that Fujin was acting so curious about him, "All right, I'll show you."

He turned to face Fujin, and before she knew it his hands started glowing, and before she knew it, he was suddenly wearing a pair of black gloves with silver finger tips, and a silver circle with double X's in it on each of them.

"Well here they are," he said showing them off, "But using them like this would be no different than fighting without them."

_They certainly don't look any different than normal gloves aside from the color scheme, but what does he mean by 'using them like that' I wonder._

"EXPLAIN."

Skyy laughed again. "It's easier to show you then trying to explain it."

"There! SeeD forces!"

Before Fujin could inquire further, they were interrupted by a sudden influx of g-soldiers.

"Well now, it's about time you guys showed up, I was starting to get depressed thinking that Seifer and Squall were going to have all the fun."

"RAWWWWR!"

Fujin and Skyy looked up at this sudden screech.

"What the hell was that?"

"UNSURE!"

"Sounded like it came from up top," Skyy turned his attention back to the soldiers preparing to attack, "guess with just have to trust the others to take care of it."

Fujin nodded in agreement, and the two charged at the soldiers.

* * *

_**Squall and Seifer:**_

The two gunblade specialists cleared out the bottom of the tower, and took the lift straight to the top of it, where they encountered two soldiers trying to fix the tower.

"Damn it where the hell did I put that screwdriver at? And where are those reinforcements we asked for" the soldier in red asked.

"The screwdriver is wherever you left it last sir, and the reinforcements are en route sir." the one in blue answered him back.

"If I knew where I left it I wouldn't be asking where it was you damn idiot! Forget it, I've almost got it fixed anyway," he said back as he started messing with the wires, "Let's see put this here, and that goes there."

"Um…Sir?"

"Not now I've just about…there!" he shouted and sprung up as the tower came back to life. "Now then what do you wa-" he stopped in his tracks when he turned around and saw Squall and Seifer, with their blades at the ready.

"Damn it why didn't you say anything?" he bellowed at the soldier in blue who let out a sigh at getting blamed. "ATTACK THEM!"

"RAWWWWR!"

"What the hell is that?"

"Look out sir!"

A giant monster with large bat-like wings, huge monstrous horns, and long sharp talons flew towards the tower, and it knocked the two soldiers clear across the roof of the tower, before turning it's sight on Squall and Seifer.

"Well now this should be pretty fun eh squall?" Seifer asked his partner with his usual smirk on his face.

"Yeah, and probably easy if you fight dirty like this morning," Squall answered him back.

"As long as you win there's no such thing as fighting dirty," Seifer retorted.

"Hmf, whatever."

The two charged at the towering beast with their gunblades at the ready, preparing to crush it and get finish this mission once and for all.

* * *

"Jeez, these guys may not be that strong but they sure are numerous, "Skyy said catching his breath as he looked over all the soldiers he and Fujin had taken out.

"NUMEROUS," Fujin agreed and nodded as she caught her breath as well.

"Yo, there you guys are," they heard a voice behind them and turned to see Zell coming down from the cliff, "I've been looking everywhere for you guys, why were you not at the square?"

"Seifer ordered us to clear out the tower when we heard some guards talking about ambushing the Dollet forces that were attacking it," Skyy answered him.

"Eh? but the orders said...look that's not important right now, we just got our orders to evacuate Dollet, and we need to head back to the landing area ASAP, where are Seifer and Squall at?"

"UP," Fujin told him as she pointed to the top of the tower.

"We need to hurry and tell them!" Zell exclaimed as he headed to the tower, only to, literally, run into Squall at the entrance.

"Tell us what chicken-wuss?" Seifer asked provokingly towards Zell.

"Why you little," he shook his fist at him before letting out a sigh, "never mind, we've received our evacuation orders, we have to hurry back to the landing area before the ships leave without us!"

"Then we'd better hurry," Squall said, with the others nodding in agreement.

"All right then let's-"

_**THUD!**_

A large four legged machine showed up, ambushing the group.

"What the hell is that thing?" Zell shouted

"The hell if I know," Skyy answered.

"Whatever it is we have to smash it and get out of here," Seifer said, brandishing his sword, "Attack!"

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A/N

Next time on **Garden of Flames: **The group faces off against the relentless X-ATM092, and Skyy finally shows his power, but will it be enough to stop the machine? Find out next time on **Garden of Flames!** Till then, please review and share if you'd be so kind :3


	7. Chapter 7

The group attacked full force against the giant machine that had ambushed them, but nothing seemed to affect it at all. Finally Fujin hit it with the strongest thunder attack she could muster, with Skyy falling suit and combing an aero spell with her, which managed to stun it. Then Seifer and Squall ran at it with their blades at the ready, and unleashed a flurry of devastating combination moves, putting all their power into each one, finally causing the giant to fall to the ground. Despite, or maybe because of, their rivalry with one another, they could read each others movements flawlessly, making for a deadly combination.

"That took a lot longer than expected," Skyy said as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Automated repair sequence at twenty percent," came an electronic voice from the recently downed robot.

"What no way!" Zell exclaimed at hearing this.

"ABSURD," Fujin agreed, still catching her breath.

"We need to leave now before it gets back up!" Squall shouted.

"Everyone head back for the beach!" Seifer ordered to the group.

The group ran as fast as they could back along the mountain path, but with its large size and speed, the machine was able to effortlessly catch up to the group, getting downed multiple times in the process, only to repair itself in no time and resume the hunt.

"Damn it, why won't this thing go down already," Zell shouted as the group kept running for the beach.

"This thing is relentless, we have to hurry and get back to the gunboat before we're done for," Skyy said from behind him.

They continued running from it, and upon finally reaching the town they thought the narrow streets would help them avoid the giant menace. Unfortunately the streets were not quite narrow enough to keep it from following them, and while they were trying to get the word to evacuate to the other garden students inside a local bar, it quickly came upon them, crushing a car under its might as it gave chase.

"I'd hate to be the owner of that car when they see it like that," Zell said, sweat dripping off his forehead.

"I'd hate to see the insurance bill," Seifer chipped in.

"Up head," Skyy exclaimed, "it's the beach!"

"We're almost out of here!" Seifer exclaimed before he and Squall jumped off the steps followed closely behind by Zell.

"Hurry up you guys!" Zell shouted at Skyy and Fujin who were just arriving at the steps.

Skyy jumped first and headed for the boat, but before Fujin was able to make the jump, the machine quickly fired at her, flinging her hard into the ground. As it came into view, it quickly locked its sights unto Fujin, who was still trying to regain her ground after getting flung so hard to the beach. The machine marched over to her, and raised one of its giant legs and prepared to finish her off, and Fujin, not seeing any way out because of her state, closed her eye and prepared for the worst.

"Fujin!"

She didn't open her eye. Soon she stated feeling a warm sensation come over her.

_Am I...dead? _She wondered.

Fujin dared to slowly open her eye, and to her surprise she wasn't dead, but instead Skyy was holding her to his chest in his arms. But what surprised her more, was that there was fire emitting from his forehead and gloves, and his eyes went from their deep blue to a bright orange, the same color as the flames, and gave a far more serious look.

_His hands and his head are…on fire? But his hands don't burn, they just feel…warm. Just what's going on here? Wait, could these flames be... _

Before Fujin could finish her thought while taking in the sight before her, she remembered they were in the midst of a battle.

She looked up to see that the machine had raised its leg, preparing for another stomp. But before she know it, she and Skyy were now behind the large mechanical creature. Skyy set Fujin back on solid ground.

"Fujin, hurry back to the ship with the others and get someone on the gun, I'll keep it busy for you," Skyy told her, his voice coming out deeper then she remembered it.

"BUT-"

Before she could argue, she quickly found herself in his embrace and looked up to see him giving her his warm smile.

"Fujin, trust me," he said patting her head, "I'll be fine, now hurry."

With that Fujin nodded and quickly headed for the boat she and the others had arrived in to let them know what he said.

While Fujin went for the boat, Skyy was flying to get the mechanized monsters attention, and was dodging the giants attacks when he did, staying just ahead of its gun fire, using his gloves flames to propel him.

"Alright you scrap heap, I'll show what happens when you attack one of my comrades like that," Skyy said in a calm yet deadly serious tone as he prepared to fight the machine head on.

The machine quickly opened fire on him once more, but he was able to countinue staying ahead of the shots thanks to his flames, and he quickly flew underneath the giant and slammed his fist directly in its middle, causing it to toss upwards on it's hind legs. Skyy took this chance and began emitting his flames furiously as he flew up and around the beast in a corkscrew fashion, and then came spiraling down, hitting the machine as hard as he could, causing a small explosion in the process. He landed back on the ground, sweat dripping from his body as he caught his breath.

_Damn, this things tough, I should have just fought him from the start instead of wasting my energy running from it, _Skyy thought to himself as he wiped the sweat from his brow before it could get into his eye.

"Skyy!"

He heard his name called out and turned to see instructor Trepe on the boats machine gun, along with Seifer and Squall coming back out of the boat. This proved to be a dangerous mistake however, as the machine used one of its giant arms and knocked Skyy across the beach while he wasn't paying attention. The last thing he heard was the firing of the machine gun, the bullets hitting the robots hard metal, and before his vision left he could see two blurry figures running towards him. Then all he saw and heard was nothingness.

* * *

_**Fujin pov:**_

After returning to the Balamb docks, Zell helped Squall and Fujin load Skyy into their car before running back to his own, telling them to make sure they head to the doctor when they get back to the garden.

Seifer called dibs on driving, and Quistis took the passenger seat, while Squall sat in the middle row on his own, and Fujin sat in the back, with Skyy laid out across it, gently placing his head on her lap.

"What the hell was that stuff he was pulling off back at the beach," Seifer asked, hoping someone could explain what he and the others saw.

"Flames," Quistis answered simply.

"Flames?" Squall asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Indeed," Quistis replied, "to be specific, a sky flame. Something that every leader and candidate of the Vongola are known for possessing.

_I was right, _Fujin thought to herself as she looked over Skyys' unconscious state. _I've never actually seen flames used up close like that, but I know there are some people in school who can use them, though not on the scale that he was. _She put a hand to his forehead where she saw the flames emitting from. _When he's sleeping like this he seems so...peaceful. _She smiled at his unconscious form, noticing how restful he looked.

She soon noticed he was starting to come to, as he began moving his head around on her lap slightly and his eye lids began twitching, trying to open.

"Hey, looks like he's coming to," Squall told the others up front.

"That's good," Quistis replied, "but don't let him move around too much Fujin, we still need to get back to the garden and have Doctor Kadowaki take a look at him."

* * *

As Skyy was squinting, trying to open his eyes, he felt a throbbing pain on his right side.

_Good thing I had my dying will mode or that would have probably done me in, _he thought to his self, still trying to get his bearings.

"Feels like I got hit by a truck," he mumbled.

"Close enough," he heard someone say

"Can you move any?" he heard another ask him.

_That…kinda sounds like squall. And what am I lying on anyway? It feels really…soft._

"Yeah, hurts like hell when I do though," Skyy managed to mumble out before turning on his side, and innocently started nuzzling whatever it was he was lying on.

Fujin couldn't help but blush when he did this.

"AHEM," She spoke up, trying to get his attention.

It worked.

"Eh, I wouldn't happen to be lying on," he turned his head back up and managed to open his eyes just enough to see something red staring at him through bits of silver, "ah it's Fujin. Fujin!"

He jumped up when he realized that he had not only being laying on her lap, but had even nuzzled it in his dreary state. This jump quickly led to a yelp of pain as Skyy realized his body was still in immense pain after getting hit. This one man spectacle managed to get a laugh from both Seifer and the instructor from the front seat. Only Squall found this annoying, rubbing his forehead.

"Sorry Fujin I didn't realize I was lying on you," Skyy said, giving a nervous laugh.

"FORGET," She shrugged and turned to face the window.

_Phew, last time I did that to someone they weren't nearly as forgiving towards me about it, _he thought before letting out a small chuckle.

"Thank you, Fujin,"

She turned around to respond only to be met with his usual smile, the same one that kept bring back that wretched pounding in her chest whenever she saw it. She simply nodded and quickly turned back to the window before anyone could see her, just in case her cheeks decided to turn red again.

* * *

The infirmary was empty except for Doctor Kadowaki, Skyy, and Fujin, who was on the other side of the curtain, and had agreed to make sure Skyy managed to get to it alright.

"Well Skyy," the doctor said as she looked over a file, "it seems like everything is fine, though you should probably take it easy for a little while, and get some rest after the graduation ceremony. That was a very nasty hit you took, it's amazing that you're still alive."

"Just lucky I guess," he chuckled nervously, "thanks for the check up dock," Skyy said as he eased off the bed and started putting his jacket back on.

"Also, about what's on your"

"That's personal doc...nothing to do with the test."

"I see..."

_What's personal? Is something wrong with him? _Fujin couldn't help but wonder when she over heard them.

Doctor Kadowaki pulled back the curtain and Fujin stood up when Skyy walked over to her.

"Now then, the two of you had better hurry up to the second floor before you miss your names being called," Kadowaki said smiling softly at the both of them.

They both nodded and quickly took off from the infirmary and headed for the elevator and up to the second floor, where they ran into the others, save for Quistis.

"Yo," Zell called out as he ran towards the two of them with Rajin behind him, "Sweet, you made it just in time. They're just about to call the squad b members. Rajin and I just got done and we are now officially SeeD members!" he exclaimed through a large grin on his face.

"Hey don't forget about me," a feminine voice came from behind the two of them, "I passed too you know."

A short brown haired girl popped out from behind Zell and Raijin.

"Oh right, Skyy and Fujin, I'd like you to meet Selphie, she transferred from Trabia garden for the exam, she was part of squad A with Rajin and I."

"Nice to meet you," she smiled and extended her hand.

"Likewise," Skyy smiled and took her hand.

Fujin Just nodded at the girl.

"You two had better head over to Seifer and Squall over there before you guys get called, ya know?" Rajin told the two of them.

"AFFIRMATIVE," Fujin nodded.

"Right, thanks guys, and congratulations on passing," Skyy said smiling before he and Fujin went to meet up with Seifer and Squall.

"About time you two showed up," Seifer said as he leaned against the wall.

Before Skyy could make any kind of retort, the head master came on over the intercom.

"Will the following members from squad B please report to my office. Squall, Seifer, Fujin, and Skyy. Those four who were called please come up to my office. As for the rest of you, better luck next time.

As the group headed to the elevator, a trio of disappointed students snapped their fingers and hung their heads in unison.

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A/N

Skyy finally fights in HDW only to get his ass handed to him by machine? How embarrassing man X3

Remember, reviews are love :3


	8. Chapter 8

Fujin, Seifer, Skyy, and Squall got on the elevator, and headed up to the head masters office after having heard their names announced over the intercom. When the elevator reached the third floor of the garden where the head masters office was located, the four got off the elevator and were greeted by Xu who ushered them into a set of double doors, leading to the head masters office.

There, head master Cid was standing, with a smile on his face and his glasses on the edge of his nose, which he quickly pushed back up before speaking.

"Well now, this is quite a treat," he said smiling as he stepped towards the group who had lined up in a horizontal row, "All four members of squad B managing to make it here is quite remarkable indeed. Now then I am happy to announce that Miss Fujin and Mr. Leonhart are officially SeeD members."

"SIR," the two said in unison, doing the traditional Balamb Garden salute.

"As for you two however," the head master said gravely as he turned his attention towards Seifer and Skyy, "before deciding rather or not you will become SeeD members I must ask you this. Why did you disobey your orders to defend the square and abandon your post, and why did you engage the enemy machine rather than following your evacuation orders. You Mr. Almasy, being the squad leader, should have known better than to lead your squad into a situation like that. I'm afraid that I can not make you a See-"

"Hold it!"

Everyone turned their attention to Skyy who was standing with his arms cross and his head down.

_The hell,_ Seifer thought to himself, _Don't make this any worse than it is! Don't screw us over any more than we are or you're gonna have hell to pay!_

"Seifer," Skyy spoke, raising his head to meet the head masters gaze, "did nothing wrong in the given situation."

"Ignoring orders is not 'doing something wrong' then?" Cid asked, arching an eyebrow.

"After overhearing the soldiers that were heading to the tower say that they were going to ambush the dollet forces attacking it, Seifer decided it would be best to take the fight to them and back up the dollet forces. The only regret is that we were not fast enough to save any of the dollet soldiers. In a war, things won't always go as planned, and rather than follow orders exactly, you sometimes have to improvise to survive. Seifers' decision to help the dollet forces and to eliminate the galbadian soldiers at the tower was the right decision. And even though he had to disobey an order to do so, leaving the dollet forces to suffer without bothering to do anything to help them would have been a far worse thing for someone to do. Though as I said before, there is still the regret of not being fast enough to save any of them." Skyy said with a serious tone, one that none of the others had heard him speak in since arriving.

"I see," Cid said nodding his head, "and as for why you decided to engage the enemy machine rather than fall back?"

"There was no choice in the matter sir. It ambushed us at the tower and we were forced to put it down in order to escape. However it had a self-repair program and was able to pursue us back to the beach where it attempted to kill one of the other students Sir," Skyys' voice remained serious and he uncrossed his arms and puffed out his chest, his eyes narrowed to dagger like portions as he kept eye contact with the head masters gaze, "And even though I could have simply headed for the boat and followed the orders to leave, the price would have been too high. I will never abandon anyone to die if there is a way to prevent it, even if it means disobeying a superiors order. And if being a SeeD means leaving your teammates to die while you save your own skin or to ignore a chance to help someone who is about to be attacked from behind, then I'd just as soon have you fail me right here and now, because I don't want to be associated with something that disgraceful.

There was an eerie silence in the head masters office for a number of minutes as the head master thought about everything Skyy had said.

Seifer tried to act calm, but the sweat slowly sliding down his forehead did little to help his image. Squall stared at the head master, as though he were trying to analyze him and figure out what was going to happen after Skyys little outburst. Fujin kept the same stoic face she was known for, but inside she couldn't help but feel…happy, about what Skyy had said.

_He said 'one of the others' guess he didn't want to say anything that may embarrass me. And he had the choice to leave me and could have simply followed orders, but he wanted to save me instead, even though he knew he might have gotten in trouble for it. But why would he do that for someone he just met? Even if we were comrades on the same squad, he still had no obligation to me, especially if it meant failing the test. So why did he do it? _Fujin was finally snapped back to reality and out of her thoughts when the head master finally spoke back up.

"Well then, after taking into consideration your view on the events that transpired and your reasoning for following incorrect orders and out right ignoring the evacuation order, it seems that I have no choice but to…"

Everybody held their breath as they waited for the result.

"Make the two of you official SeeD members. Congratulations," the head master smiled brightly at both of them.

Everyone exhaled in unison, and a small smile escaped Fujins lips, though it quickly disappeared before anyone could notice it.

"Now then, being SeeD members has a few perks you should all know about," the head master spoke, ignoring the relived sighs from everyone.

"First of all, you will all be getting your own individual dorms, no more roommates for any of you. And second, you will start receiving a daily salary according to your SeeD ranking level. Now then, you will find your new SeeD uniforms in your new dorm rooms, which you will be expected to wear to tonight's graduation ball for all new SeeD members, which you will all be expected to attend," his attention was turned to Squall as he said this. The dance is not until eight, so feel free to do what you wish till then."

"Sir," all four of them spoke together, the salute following soon after.

* * *

The four got back in the elevator, and headed down the lobby, preparing to go check out their new dorms, only to be greeted by Zell and Raijin who had been waiting for them when they got out.

"So how'd it go?" Zell asked the group excitedly

"We've been waiting like forever ya know?" Raijin said from behind him, "So spill it already."

"PASSED," Fujin said, though she quickly kicked Raijin in the shin out of nowhere, "NO DOUBTS," She said in what could only be assumed as a scolding fashion, causing all the others to laugh.

"Jeez Raijin, you should have known better than to doubt your fellow committee members," Zell chuckled as he teased him.

"Hey you were curious to ya know? So you must have been pretty doubtful yourself eh?" Raijin retorted, causing Fujin to glare in Zells direction, possibly in agreement, causing a shiver to go down his spine.

"Well would you look at the time," Zell said looking at an imaginary watch on his wrist, "I should really go check out the new dorm and get changed."

At this he took off full speed away from everyone, with Seifer shouting something about detention for running in the halls.

The group headed to the dormitory section of the garden to check out their new rooms, only to notice they were being eyed by quite a number of students as they went, especially females.

"It figures that all the ladies would fall for me once I became a SeeD," Seifer said smirking.

"They must be really devoted if they waited for you after all the times you've failed it," Squall remarked.

"You trying to start something Squall? Want another addition to that face of yours?" Seifer said provokingly.

"Why? you looking to copy that one to," Squall retorted back.

Skyy couldn't help but chuckle at the two of them as he and Fujin walked behind them.

"So Fujin," he turned to face her as the group kept walking, "do you know how to dance?"

Fujin was confused as to why he would suddenly ask that, but then remembered about the graduation ball the head master mentioned.

"SOMEWHAT," she nodded.

"Well would you like to go to the ball with me tonight?" he asked smiling brightly at her.

Fujin didn't know how to respond. She had never been asked to anything before, but since she was going to have to go anyway, she just nodded at him.

"Great," Skyy said smiling even brighter, "I'll come by your dorm to get you tonight."

Fujin just nodded again.

* * *

_**Skyy Pov**_

Skyy entered his new dorm, thankful that he didn't have much of anything with him when he came, since most of his stuff was still on the way, meaning he didn't have anything to move from the old dorm.

He noticed the new SeeD Uniform laid out on his bed. It was black, with silver shoulder pads and a chain connecting them across the front of the chest, a yellowish gold strip down the middle and a large belt. The pants and boots that were with it were plain black. Skyy looked at the clock in his room and decided he'd get a shower before switching into the new outfit.

As he stood in the shower, letting the warm water run over him, he had to admit that it felt really good since he still felt pretty sore from the hit he took from that huge robot. After a while, he couldn't help but turn his thoughts to Fujin. _She thought she was so slick, she probably thinks no one saw her smile when Seifer and I became SeeDs earlier...I probably shouldn't tell her that outburst wasn't planned and that I just got lucky when Cid passed us...probably shouldn't tell Seifer that either. I wonder why she always tries to keep such a stoic face, she looks really nice when she's smiling, but...I guess everyone has a secret or two..._He recalled the two other times she had smiled at him, first when they teased each other in his dorm room when he had her show him where it was, and later when they met up and headed to the lobby. _Maybe I'll get lucky and she'll smile for me again tonight. _He smiled to his self as he imagined Fujin smiling and laughing with him.

* * *

_**Fujin Pov**_

Fujin entered her dorm and looked it over.

_It's just like the other one, except it looks bigger since there's only one person staying, _she thought to herself.

Her gaze shifted over to her new SeeD uniform that was waiting for her on her bed, instantly noticing the skirt that was with it. _Why skirts, I despise skirts, there is no way i'm wearing this thing, _she thought to herself and let out a sigh. She wasn't a big fan of skirts, believing them to be a hindrance and useless in combat. She ignored the uniform for now and went to take a shower. She enjoyed taking showers even when she didn't need one, because for the thirty minutes that she took them for, she truly felt that she could be alone with her thoughts, without having to worry about any expressions someone might see her make when she thought about particular subjects. This time the subject was one she couldn't get away from today.

Skyy.

_Why did he suddenly ask me to the dance like that? I'm sure he could have easily found someone else, after all it seems that Seifer and Squall weren't the only ones getting attention from those girls earlier. Why am I getting upset at that? I'm not…jealous am I? Nonsense, I'd have to actually like him to get jealous. Well It's not that I don't like him or find him attractive, _she started to blush as she thought about this, _but emotions like that are a weakness…aren't they? Letting people see your emotions is dangerous and can be used against you. You don't want to be distracted in a fight by emotions like that. So why does my chest keep beating anytime I think about him. Maybe I'll talk with him tonight at the ball. But what should we talk about, I've never bothered to try and be a conversationalist before today, and all we ended up talking about was weapons...and we didn't even get to finish that before getting attacked. _Fujin grimaced as she spent the rest of her shower trying to figure out something interesting they could talk about.

* * *

Skyy walked down the halls, dressed in his new uniform, feeling slightly uncomfortable with all the feminine eyes that were following him as he went.

_Oi, this is why I don't like being the center of attention...or is it that this is why I want to be the center of attention? If they're gazing at me like this already, I wonder just what kind of reaction they'll have when they see just who it is that i'm picking up. _He chuckled as he thought this to himself.

He finally came to the room Fujin said she had been switched to and knocked on the door.

"Hey it's me, are you ready to go?" He called out, standing in front of the door which quickly opened for him, revealing Fujin decked out in her new uniform, minus the skirt. She decided to stick with her regular pants instead.

"AFFIRMATIVE," she nodded.

"Don't like skirts I take it?" He asked, noticing hers was missing.

"HATE," She shook her head in response causing Skyy to chuckle again.

As the two of them walked down the halls, the girls who had been watching Skyy, a bit to closely for his taste, couldn't help but have their jaws hit the floor as they saw Skyy taking Fujin, of all people, to the dance. Fujin couldn't help but smirk at their reactions.

"You look really nice, even if I don't get to see you in a skirt," Skyy told her, showing his usual smile.

"APPRECIATED," Fujin said smiling back.

"I was hoping you'd smile for me, but I didn't think i'd get it this soon" he chuckled, causing Fujin to look confused, "you always look good, but you look amazing when you smile."

Hearing this, Fujin immediately felt her face heat up and turned away from his.

"Y-you have a nice smile to," she mumbled, staring straight at the floor.

Even though he had a hard time making it out, her voice sounded soft and melodic when she spoke in full sentences, and he put his hand under her chin and turned her back to face him and showed her his soft, warm smile, the same one that kept bringing the pounding back to her chest.

"Thank you," he said, "to be honest, you're the first person to get me to smile like this in a long time. I'm glad that you like it."

Fujin didn't even try to hide her face now, she knew that it must have been deep red from how hot it felt, but couldn't bring herself to look away from him.

They spent what felt like several minutes like this before Fujin spoke up.

"LATE," She said, finally breaking the silence between the two, and also so they'd keep moving before someone came along and saw them like this.

"Oh right, the dance," he said, taking his hand back from her face and putting it in her hand instead, "we'd better hurry then."

She looked down at their hands puzzled.

"So people will know I'm with you of course," he answered her question before she could even ask it, still smiling at her.

Hearing this, the beating in Fujins chest skyrocketed, and she became very happy, though she didn't know why.

_He wants people…to know I'm with him? _She squeezed his hand tighter in hers, _I don't know why, but I'm happy. Not only does he want to go with me, but he wants people to know I'm who he took out of everyone here. You're an interesting person Skyy._

* * *

When the two entered the ball room, they were greeted almost instantaneously by the others.

They all talked and joked around with each other, save for Fujin who went back to her stoic nature, and Selphie, who had been a part of Zell and Raijins squad had even asked some of them to help out with the garden event planning that she had taken over which Zell, Raijin, Skyy, and Squall agreed to, though Squall was a bit reluctant at first.

After talking for a bit, Zell pointed out Squall, who had disappeared from the group, to the others. He was dancing with some girl in a white dress who had long black hair. None of them had ever seen her before that they could recall.

"Jeez he doesn't seem to be showing any enthusiasm," Skyy joked.

"He looks stiff as a board," Seifer joked with him.

Zell was apparently the only one cheering him on and congratulating him on scoring a cute one, though it didn't seem that Squall could hear him, or maybe he was simply ignoring him.

"So Fujin, may I have this dance?" Skyy asked as he extended his hand to her.

Fujin nodded and took his hand and the two proceeded onto the dance floor.

The music that was playing was for waltzing, and despite never dancing together the two were able to pull off their moves seamlessly, as though they were made to be perfect dancing partners. During one of the twirls where Skyy was meant to 'un-roll then re-roll' her into his arms, he put a little more force into the return then he meant to and they ended up chest to chest, with only inches between their faces.

Fujin became red again and was nervous, but didn't try to pull away. In fact it seemed that they were closing the distance. However, the fireworks display that went off brought them both back to reality.

"Sorry," Skyy said sheepishly, looking at Fujin, "I wasn't trying to," he found a finger placed on his lips as he tried to speak, and Fujin leaned in close to him.

"DON'T MIND," she smiled and whispered in his ear. When she tried to whisper in her usual way of speaking, her voice sounded rich and sultry.

"Then maybe we should do it again sometime," Skyy said, turning his charm from earlier back on.

"FOLLOW," she said, grabbing his hand and leading him out of the ball room, avoiding the others as they went.

* * *

After sneaking away from the party and into Skyys dorm room, he turned to ask Fujin what the rush was, only to have her embrace him tightly and look up at him.

"AGAIN," she said, her face beet red.

_I can't take it. It's only been a day_ _but..._she began thinking to herself.

Skyy figured she was referring to how they were before the fireworks went off and complied. He wrapped his arms around her and their faces went back to being only inches away, just like at the dance.

_We've just met but...you make me feel...different. In a good way, _he mused to himself.

"Fujin," he started to speak, staring into her crimson eye deeply as his face became as red as the eye he looked into," I know we just met, but...I really like you."

"YOU TO," Fujin said, staring back into his sapphire blues, her face coming closer to his.

Their hearts were racing, both feeling like they would burst out of their chests at any time.

_This is it, _she thought.

_No turning back, _he thought.

And finally it happened.

Their faces became as close as possible and their lips connected. Their arms wrapped tightly around each other as they tried to pull each other as close as possible, with Fujin running one hand through his soft hair. Skyy had one arm wrapped tightly around her waist pulling her in, while the other rubbed up and down her backside. They unwilling pulled away from each other to catch their breath, and Skyy could feel Fujins hot breath on his neck as she caught hers.

They made their way over to his bed and he sat her down on it before she laid back and pulled him in for another session, nearly making him fall on top of her before he caught his self.

He playfully started using his tongue on her lips while they kissed, and soon she used her tongue on his as well and the tongues started to wrestle for territory.

He ran one of his hands down along her petite frame, tracing his way down her curves, and soon came to her thigh, and softly rubbed it up and down through the pants fabric. Fujin could feel him do this and did nothing to stop him, enjoying the feeling of having someone touch her like that.

After this had gone on for quite a while, they had to break away to catch their breaths again.

"FIRST," Fujin told him, as she was trying to catch her breath.

He assumed she meant this was her first time kissing.

"Well you're very good at it," he said kissing her neck, "i'm really enjoying it."

"LIKEWISE," she said, running one hand through his hair and gripping the cover with the other.

"I wish you could stay," he said, finally getting his breath back and nuzzling against her face, "but it would be kinda hard to explain why you're coming out of my room tomorrow," he smiled and laughed at the thought of what people would do if they saw her leaving his room in the morning.

Fujin wanted to stay too, she wanted them to keep going, but she knew that he was right, and she didn't want to put up with all the gossip she'd have to deal with if she was caught leaving in the morning. "ONE MORE," she said, running her hand through the back of his hair and pulling him back to her, "PLEASE?"

"Whatever you wish, my princess," he smiled and brushed away a lock of her silver hair where he could look in her eye before connecting with her soft lips one more time.

They figured this would be the last one they would have before she would have to leave to go back to her own room, since people may start heading back to their dorms soon, so they tried to make it last as long as possible, savoring every part of it, not knowing when they'd get this chance again.

Their tongues reuniting and their grips on each other getting tighter as they embraced, they never wanted to end this moment, but both knew that they would have to soon.

After they finally managed to break their lips apart again, they stood up and they held each other tightly. Skyy was tempted to give her a good night kiss before she left, but decided against it, or else they really might end up having to come up with an excuse for why she's leaving his room tomorrow.

"Good night Fuu, sweet dreams," he said smiling before settling on kissing her cheek.

"SAME," she said with a smile before wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him back.

Fujin left his dorm and went back to her own. Luckily she managed to avoid running into anyone who might see her in the state she was in. Her hair was ruffled, her face red, and her breathing still shaken. She figured everyone must either already be back in their dorms or at the secret spot in the training center.

_Maybe I should take him there sometime, _she thought to herself and smiled as she thought about having someone to go there with, other than Raijin and Seifer to hand out detentions for curfew breakers. She couldn't help but chuckle to herself about how hypocritical she would look being there as someones partner and becoming the person she and the others gave detentions to all the time, but she didn't care. Not if she was going to be there with him she thought.

She finally made it back to her dorm, and immediately went for her bed, not bothering to change out of her uniform. Both Fujin and Skyy no doubt slept well, with only one thing on their minds. Each other.

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A/N

What will become of Fujin and Skyy now that they've had this intimate moment? Will I ever come up with a better way to introduce the next chapter? (probably not) Find out next time on **Garden of Flames!**

In the meantime, remember that reviews are love :3


	9. Chapter 9

The early morning light managed to seep through the windows blinds and also managed to, with amazingly perfect accuracy, hit a certain sleepy vongola candidate square in his eyes.

_Really, _Skyy thought wearily to himself, _right in my freaking eyes? _The young vongola grumbled as he turned away from the blinds and threw an arm over his eyes as he looked at the clock in his room to check the time. _Are you kidding me, it's not even 8 yet. _He tried to go back to sleep but to no avail, the sun simply wouldn't have it.

***bzzzt bzzzt***

And neither would anything else it seemed.

Skyy let out a sigh in defeat after realizing that he wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon. He reached over and grabbed his phone off the nightstand next to the bed and saw that he had just gotten a new message.

_I am bringing you the package today, along with a little something extra you've probably been missing. I will meet you at the front gate at 9 a.m sharp, be there._

_-R_

"Jeez just as pushy as ever," he spoke to his self as he started to, very slowly, raise himself up and out of bed, "I guess I might as well get a shower to kill time."

Even though he didn't really need one, he liked to take showers because to him they're the best place to think in his opinion, and there was something he really needed to think about. Especially if the person who sent the message was bringing what he thinks they are.

He turned on the water and when it warmed up enough to his liking, he turned on the shower head and stepped inside.

_Last night was really something, _he began thinking to himself, _and kissing Fujin was something else altogether. Was it really a good idea though? I mean I really like her, but we've practically just met, and we don't really know anything about each other. And what does she think about all this, it certainly wasn't 'just kissing' to her i'm sure, since she said she liked me too...so are we a couple now or what? I don't really know how these things work when you go this fast. I guess I'll just talk to her about it later and see what she thinks of this. I mean it's not like things are going to become extremely awkward between us just because of some kissing right? But again is it even a good idea though…the last time I cared about someone like this it didn't exactly work out well…for anyone. No time to keep pondering that though, I have to finish finalizing my decision about the others and their designations._

* * *

_**Fujin Pov**_

She felt herself drowning in the emotions that threatened to wash away her very person, so foreign yet so welcome. It started so innocently with just a gentle touch entwined with subtle promises of passion. Delicious dreams came all too easily, as the two bodies entwined until finally they became one in ecstasy.

Fujin shot up with such abruptness that she ended up a covered heap on the floor.

"Well that dream was certainly…different," Fujin mused to herself as she started trying to get out of the cover entangling her.

When she finally managed to get out of her fabric based entrapment, she was grateful that she had decided to put her curtains up over the blinds before getting ready for the ball the night before, so she did not have to suffer the suns' pinpoint precision on her good eye like the unknowing and unfortunate young vongola had to suffer through. Though she didn't exactly wake up in any a way that was any more pleasant.

Fujin stood up and she proceeded to spread her cover back neatly across her bed as it was before her surprise morning tumble. She looked at her clock and saw that it was roughly a quarter after 8, so she decided to get changed and head to the cafeteria for breakfast. As she was putting one of her black tank top, her royal blue jacket that she was, aside from last nights ball, never seen with out, and another pair of black stretch pants, she couldn't help but think about the dream that had jerked her from her sleep. She'd never had a dream that involved her and someone else in quite so…intimate…a position with one another, much less one that intense. But what had really surprised her most was that she wasn't surprised about who she was dreaming of doing…that…with, and thinking of it caused her face to heat up.

"I suppose after last night it…makes some sense…right? I mean it's not _weird _to dream something like that after what we did and it's not like I didn't _somewhat _enjoy it…but it was still just a dream," she spoke to herself, her face getting a deeper shade of red every step of the way.

* * *

Skyy walked down the gardens halls on his way to the front gate, happy to finally be back in his regular t-shirt and broken in jeans. It's not that he didn't think the uniforms were stylish, but they just don't feel as free as his normal clothes on him, making him grateful that the uniforms weren't required for missions and were more of a formal thing.

As he walked to the entrance of the garden, he started thinking of various things on the way, such as the sparring match he still owes Zell and deciding how to help Selphie with the garden festival committee work she asked him about at the ball the night before. He had told her that he would think of something to do for it. As he was walking, he ran into a certain silver haired female leaving the cafeteria.

"Fujin," he said, not expecting to run into her so, by his standards, early, "Good morning."

"MORNING," Fujin said, having resumed her stoic face and monotone speech.

_Normal good morning, no awkward silence or anything yet, so that's good so far right? _He thought to himself.

He quickly glanced at his watch, "Damn they're gonna kill me if I make them wait, sorry to run Fujin, but I have to go meet someone."

"WHO," She asked quizzically, or as quizzically as possible with her style of talking, as she began jogging towards the front gate with him, making it look as though they were on an exercise run together.

"Just an old friend of mine, They're supposed to be bringing me something important today," he told her as the made their way through the garden lobby towards the front gate.

_An old friend, _Fujin thought to herself, _maybe the package has something to do with the Vongola then? I suppose that would make sense, but what could it be I wonder._

When the two of them finally made their way to the front gate Skyy checked his watch again.

"8:59, so they should be here right about…now," he finished right when his watch hit nine o'clock.

"Hey there Skyy, you're five seconds early. That's a new record for you," the voice came from behind the two of them.

Catching Fujin off guard isn't something easy to do, but the voice certainly got points for trying.

When the two of them turned around, they saw who the voice came from. There was a young looking girl in a green jumpsuit, standing with two boxes in her hands. She had short blonde hair that curved to the left with a pair of goggles on top, and had a lollipop stick poking out of her mouth.

"Well after what you did the last time I was late did you honestly think I was going to risk being late ever again?" Skyy asked looking at the young girl.

Fujin stared at the girl, studying her intently.

"I somewhat expected you to," she smirked as she spoke.

She soon noticed Fujin who had being eyeing her and turned her attention to her, "And who might this be? Found a girlfriend already have you eh Skyy?"

Hearing this caught the both of them off guard.

"She's not my/NOT HIS," They both began blushing and spoke in unison but stopped short. Were they a couple after last night? They hadn't really had a chance to talk about it yet so neither of them were really sure how to answer.

"That's not important right now Ratchet," Skyy finally answered her, "but I'm assuming what you're carrying **is **important right?"

"Hmm? You're just no fun to tease anymore since you stopped playing along," Ratchet said, a tone of disappointment in her voice, "yes **this** is important," she said handing him both the boxes then pointing at the bottom one, "It's from the old man, so I'm assuming you know what it is. The top one is just something special for you, you'll have to wait till you open it to see what I got you, oh and there's this as well," She said handing him a small box.

Skyy looked at the box for a moment and turned back to Ratchet, "I'm assuming these are to replace the last pair?" he said putting the box into one of his pockets.

"Yeah, I figured you've probably been missing them after having to go without them for so long. And I modified them to be a little more durable so you can go a bit crazier in your fights," She answered him, "Ah, look at the time, got to go, deadlines to meet and what not," She said turning and walking off

"Thanks for doing this Ratchet, it couldn't have been easy putting up with the old man when you went to get these," Skyy called out after her, to which she simply waved and kept walking.

Fujin stared curiously at the two boxes that were just handed to Skyy, wondering what it was that he had been given and what was being replaced that he had been missing.

* * *

As the two were walking down the halls Fujin suddenly tugged on one of Skyys sleeves to get his attention.

"Hmm? Is something the matter Fujin?" Skyy turned and asked her.

Fujin stared nervously at the ground, and then around her surroundings, possibly to make sure no one was in ear shot of the two of them and then turned to look back at Skyy.

"Who was she?" she asked him.

_Oh boy..._

"What do you mean?" Skyy asked, his blue eyes looking innocently at her, "she's just an old friend of mine, her great-grand dad, or was it great-great-grand dad, I forget which, used to make stuff to help the tenth vongola a long time ago, and now she makes things to help me out from time to time."

"Is that really all she is to you?" Fujin asked, her voice sounding cold as she turned away from his eyes.

Hearing this, Skyy figured what she was getting at.

"She's just an old friend of mine Fu, honest. We don't have **that **kind of relationship if that's what you want to know," Skyy said chuckling lightly at her, finding it cute that she was jealous of Ratchet.

"So then what am I…to you?" She asked him, raising her head back up and locking eyes with him.

_And there it is..._

Skyy let out a small sigh, unsure of how to answer, and then looked at her with a sorrowful expression. "Fujin, I really like you…but there's something about me you need to know…something I need to tell you, and when I do, you'll have to be the one to decide what you want to be to me," He said in a low voice before continuing on to his dorm room.

Fujin didn't know what he meant, or why he had such a sad face when he said it, but kept following him, curious as to what he meant.

_I have to decide what I am to him? Is he trying to weasel out of answering me? No that's not it, from what I've been able to tell he tends to be more direct when asked or asking something, so the fact that he is trying to avoid this means there must be something about all of this he is weary of. _Fujins mind began to wander, trying to figure out what exactly it was that he was going to tell her, only to be stopped in her tracks when they reached his room.

Skyy skillfully balanced the boxes on one of his knees to free one of his hands in order to open the door, then sat both boxes on the floor of his room and laid the small box the girl had given him on his desk before going to sit on his bed.

"Sit down Fujin. This may take a while to tell you."

Fujin nodded and shut the door behind her as she went and set next to him on the bed.

"Fujin…I'm meant what I said when I said that I like you, and what happened last night…seems like the best moment of my life right now," he said with a light chuckle, "but being with me…might be a curse," He said, hanging his head down and the sorrowful look returning to his face.

"CURSE?" Fujin asked, not entirely sure what he meant.

"Yeah. You see…a long time ago there was someone else who I liked, from one of the families that were allied with the Vongola. She would always be there to cheer me up when I was depressed, which, to be honest, was pretty much all the time considering everything the Vongola does pisses me off. But one day..."

Skyys voice lowered and his hands slowly began making fists as they grabbed his jeans at the knees.

"The old man…that bastard decided that we didn't need them anymore, that they were becoming too weak to be our allies and were just an annoying hindrance, and when the Vongola are done with someone, they don't just break ties with the family anymore. They eliminate them, to make sure any secrets we gave them...stay with them."

This caused a slight break in Fujins' stoic face that she had been trying to keep, and when she saw the face he was making, one that looked as though he was in pain, and for some reason seeing him like this made her hurt to.

"I had been away training when the decision to…eliminate them…had been made, so when I got back all I was told was that we were cutting ties with a rebellious family, and I was sent to lead one of the strike teams. It was the first mission I was given to see how good of a leader I was. I had never been to the family's base, so I had no idea it was the one we were attacking."

He looked over at Fujin and met her eyes before continuing the story.

"I wasn't always the merciful type Fujin, I've killed people before. I never enjoyed it, but it was part of my mission and had to be accomplished. That's how I used to be Fujin. Killing because I was ordered to. But then…we came to the head of the family's room. And she was there, hiding from all the fighting. The girl who had always been around when I needed someone, the girl who I shared everything with, the girl…I loved. And then it clicked, I realized what was going on, who we were attacking. The others all raised their guns, ready to fire when I ordered them to stop. Then that's when the old man walked in and saw her. He looked at me and asked why I ordered them to stop. I asked him why he didn't tell me who we were attacking and you know what he said? He told me that if I had known then I wouldn't have tried to kill anyone there. When she heard this, the girl I loved looked at me. The look she gave me was one of sorrow, hurt, betrayal, anger, everything…all mixed in one look. The old man ordered me to finish her off like the rest and I refused."

Fujin continued looking at him, never breaking eye contact for even a second, and even though she wanted to reach out to him, to hold him and stop him from speaking since it seemed to be bringing him nothing but pain to tell her this, she didn't. She knew he would probably stop her anyway and finish so instead she waited, and she listened to his story.

"The old man said that if I want to be the leader of the Vongola then I needed to be ruthless, and to crush any enemy. I still refused. And he put a gun to my head. He said that I needed to choose which was more important, the Vongola family or some girl from some other family. But before I could answer there was a gunshot. I panicked and looked over at her…only to see her slumped back against the wall…a hole right in the center of her head. I looked to see who fired and…one of the strike team members had their gun raised, and smoke was coming out of their gun barrel where he had just fired a round. He had killed her."

Fujin gasped, finally losing her stoic faced expression completely. He had watched the person he loved die, when he was sent to unknowingly attack her family. The pain he must have felt was one Fujin would never want to feel.

"He did it to save me. He knew that I would have chosen her and that the old man would have killed me when I did. So instead he killed her. He killed her so that I wouldn't have to die, or choose to have her killed. The guy had killed people before, and has probably never lost sleep over any of them…but he had never killed a civilian, an innocent bystander until that moment. The man who saved me by killing her…it was Ratchets' father who pulled the trigger."

At this Skyy got off the bed and turned his back to Fujin.

"It was enough to satisfy the old man that the family had been eliminated to not kill me…but he still thought I needed to learn my place, so he decided to do something that would make me always remember who I am supposed to be," at this, he raised his shirt, keeping his now exposed back to Fujin who let out another gasp and covered her mouth when she saw it.

There were two X shaped scars etched on, or rather into, his back along with some other marks across his back. They looked like they had been there for quite some time, and they wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.

"The old man," Skyy started back, "wanted to make sure I would always remember my place as Vongola ventesimo, the twentieth head of the vongola and used his flames to make sure i'd never forget it. So being in love, caused the person I loved to die, it caused my best friends' father to have to kill an innocent to save me, and it left this mark on me when it made me go against and disappoint the nineteenth. After all of that, don't you think loving me is a curse if it caused so much pain?" He didn't turn back to face her as he asked this.

Fujin wasn't entirely sure how to answer. She had never had someone tell her their life story before, and the first person who does tells her about how his best friends father was forced to kill his first love in order to save him. How was she supposed to respond to something like this? She decided to do it the only way she knew how. She got off the bed and walked towards Skyy who still didn't face her, and slowly started wrapping her arms around him causing him to turn around. When he did, she buried her face in his chest and held him tightly.

"Fujin…" he wasn't entirely sure what to make of this, but still he wrapped his arms around her as well.

"I still want…to be with you. I still...want you," Fujin said, looking down with her head still pressed against his chest, allowing her to hear his heart beating.

Hearing her say this caused a shocked expression to come across his face. He hadn't expected her to still want to be with him after everything he told her about what it would mean to love him or to disappoint the nineteenth.

"Fujin…I want to be with you to…" he held her tighter when he said this, not wanting to let her go, and Fujin did the same.

The two of them stood there for what seemed like eternity, just holding each other, not wanting to let each other go.

"Fujin," Skyy finally spoke up, breaking the silence and causing her to look up at him, "I love you," he told her as he raised a hand and gently placed it against her cheek.

Hearing this Fujins face lit up and she smiled up at him and held his hand on his face. "I love you too," she said before kissing him softly.

_I'll protect her,_ _no matter what,_ he thought to himself as he kissed her back.

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A/N

Really just wanted to get some back story out of the way with this one. Anyway, there will be action in this story later I promise, this isn't going to be a sappy lovey dovey fanfiction the whole way through, I just like making the scenes between Fujin and Skyy romantic, and now that the tragic backstory is out of the way, it will be time to check on the others after two FujinxSkyy focused chapters in a row, and see how they're doing. Also, having read the final chapter of hitman reborn, and the whole "Neo Vongola" thing, I considered changing the story to make Skyy the "Neo Vongola Decimo" but for now I'm just keeping him as the Vongola Ventesimo for the time being.

Till next time, please leave a review and share this story with your friends.


	10. Chapter 10

It was early in the afternoon now, and in the workout room Zell and Skyy were finally having the sparring match that Skyy had promised him before the SeeD exam, while Squall and Fujin were doing their own workout routines elsewhere in the room.

Fujin was doing her sets of stretches, push ups, and sit ups, and Squall lifting his weights and doing pull ups. But the two would glance over to see how the fight was going every so often.

Skyy and Zell were trading blows equally for quite some time, with each of them landing blow for blow on each other, and both seemed equally capable pound-for-pound fighters.

"You're pretty good," Zell panted as he ducked under a right hook thrown by Skyy.

"You're no slouch yourself," Skyy replied as he jumped back to get away from a liver shot Zell threw at him with his left.

As this went on, Squall watched quietly from the sides, making observations about the two contenders.

_This fight could go on for quite a while, _he mused to himself, _both are reading each other by the smallest movements they make and are reacting accordingly Skyy seems to have figured out that Zell pivots his left foot too much during his body blows and manages to dodge them, but likewise Zell has noticed that Skyy arches his arms back to much during hooks compared to straights and can see when they're coming. Do they even remember that this is only supposed to be a sparring match? _He questioned as he noticed how intense the ring seemed to get as the fight went on.

The match continued for what seemed like ages, and probably would have went on till neither one could move, if not for the fact that Xu walked in with a letter and eventually managed to interrupted them.

"If the two of you could stop and control yourselves for just a moment, there is something I need to discuss with all of you," Xu said sternly to the oblivious males, finally catching their attention as Squall and Fujin walked over.

"Sorry, our bad Xu," Zell said sheepishly as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Didn't notice you came in," Skyy said just the same and leaned over on his knees as he caught his breath.

"I could tell," Xu said with the same sternness in her voice, "but you've all just been given your first assignments as SeeD members," she told them as she handed the letter to Squall.

"Seifer and Raijin have been given the assignment as well, and due to personal reasons, Miss Trepe will be joining you as a fellow SeeD member rather than an instructor this time out. Please look over the letter and finish any preparations you need to before the departure time," she finished and headed out of the gym.

After grabbing their towels and water bottles, Skyy and Zell wiped the sweat off themselves as best they could and walked back over to Fujin and Squall, who were reading the letter Xu had given them.

"So what's our assignment," Zell asked eagerly.

"INFILTRATION," Fujin answered without taking her eyes of the paper.

"We're supposed to infiltrate a Galbadian base situated near the outskirts of Deling city. But first we need to go to the city and speak with a General Caraway and get information about what we're going to be looking for at the base."

"And when are we supposed to leave," Skyy asked as he took a sip from his water bottle.

"The train leaves at 5, so we have a few hours to finish anything that we need to do before going to Balamb to catch the train," Squall answered looking up from the paper.

"So It's Squall, Skyy, Fujin, Seifer, Raijin, Quistis, and me for this mission," Zell started doing a head count, "doesn't that seem a bit too many people for a sneak mission like this?"

"We could divide into two groups, and have one cause a distraction while the other group sneaks into the base," Skyy suggested.

"We'll figure all that out when we meet up with the others and meet this Caraway person," Squall said before folding up the paper and putting it in his pocket, "let's all try to meet at the station by at least four-thirty."

The others nodded, and made their way out of the workout room, save for squall who wanted to finish the sets he was doing.

* * *

As Zell, Skyy and Fujin walked down the hall, Fujin broke off and headed for the cafeteria after saying she was hungry, leaving Skyy and a rather curious Zell to head for the dorms by themselves.

"So Skyy, I've gotta ask," Zell started up as he and Skyy walked down the halls, "What's the deal with you and Fujin?" A huge grin spread across his face when he asked.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Skyy, asked as he looked away and scratched the back of his head.

"Well, you two just vanished from the ball last night, and the last time anyone ever saw either of you two was when you went to the dance floor together, so something must have happened with you two right?" Zell poked teasingly at Skyy.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Skyy said in a falsely innocent voice, "I was still feeling sore from what happened at the SeeD exam, so I snuck out of the ball room early to head to the dorms and went to bed."

"Alone?" Zell continued to tease.

"…Only when I went to bed," Skyy started to cave.

"Now we're getting somewhere," Zell exclaimed, "but why Fujin? She's never been known for being the 'happy-social-loving' type. How'd you manage to get her into your room?"

"Why? Looking for pointers to use on that librarian?" Skyy teased back.

"As if I need help with the ladies," Zell retorted, "I just want to know what you see in the anti-social queen."

"Easy," he shrugged, "She wasn't anti-social around me."

"…Huh," Zell had a dumbfound expression at such a simple answer, "but she isn't known for being sociable with anyone other than Seifer and Raijin."

"Maybe she just thought I was cute then," Skyy smiled and shrugged again.

"And what about you?" Zell asked quizzically.

"What about me?" he returned.

"Do you think she's cute," Zell asked bluntly.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" Skyy returned honestly.

Zell stopped to ponder this and thought about how Fujin looked.

"Well I guess if you can get around that monotone one word speech of hers, and that emotionless nature as well, then I guess she doesn't exactly look bad," Zell shrugged, "but it wouldn't be easy."

"The best things rarely are," Skyy smirked.

"The best huh," Zell smirked back, "So then just how far did you two go last night?"

Zell was back into his teasing nature now.

Skyy thought back to what happened after he talked to Fujin earlier that day, and they decided that they wanted to be a couple, but they also decided to keep it on the down low for now, so as to avoid any more gossip than there was bound to be already after he took her to the ball.

"We're just good friends right now," Skyy said, downplaying things slightly.

"Are you sure that's **all** you are," Zell kept teasing and smiled his goofy smile.

"You're rather nosy today. Maybe I should talk to that librarian with the ponytail after all and set you up with her so you can bug her instead," Skyy retorted.

A small strike of red went across Zells face.

"Hey why so defensive all the sudden," he nervously chuckled, " well now, would you look at the time, I think I'm gonna hurry on and get a shower and kick around before the meeting time," he said before taking off for his dorm.

"And that is how you get out of a personal conversation with a nosy boxer," Skyy spoke to himself as he continued down the hall, "but thanks to that talk, I've confirmed the last piece of the puzzle."

He walked into his dorm room and walked over to the boxes Ratchet had delivered him.

In one box there was a pair of contacts and a pair of headphones, and in another there were assorted candies and even a bottle of vintage wine that he picked up and examined.

_What would I do without you Ratchet?_

He went over to the final box and took out a small package that had in it, another small metal box that he opened to revel six silver rings with a different symbol on each of them.

"Sun, cloud, mist, lightning, rain, storm," he looked over the rings before looking at his, "and sky. Everyone is here, so it's time to see if my theory is right about them all…and if they're ready to be guardians."

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A/N

And with this the hiatus has ended finally! Who has Skyy designated for each guardian position and Will they even be able to live up to his expectations? Find out on the next installment of **Garden of Flames!**

Till then, please leave a review if you've liked the story so far. :3


	11. Chapter 11

_Balmb Station_

The time for the Balmb train to make it's way to Deling city was approaching, and Squall, Zell, Quistis, and Skyy were all waiting for Fujin, Raijin, and Seifer to get make their way to the station. Skyy glanced at his watch to check the time.

"It's just after 4:40," He said looking up at the others, "Assuming Fujin told the other two when the train is leaving, they should all be here soon."

"If Seifer isn't goofing off somewhere anyways," Squall replied in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Maybe he just enjoys the scenic route more than we think," Zell suggested with a chuckle.

"Who enjoys scenic routes chicken-wuss?" came a voice behind the group, as if waiting on it's cue.

"What did you just call me!?" Zell turned to face none other than Seifer, with Fujin and Raijin naturally following behind, and shook his fist at him angrily.

"What's the matter? Did I scare you so bad you went deaf chicken-wuss?" Seifer asked with a cocky smirk, "Not that anyone can blame you, I **am **pretty imposing."

"Yeah, I'm sure little children everywhere flee in terror from that gruesome face," Squall said, not even glancing at Seifer and missing the glare he was receiving.

"You wanna say that again you little-

"Children," Quistis finally chimed in, "would you start behaving yourselves? You are SeeD's now, and are representing Balmb Garden," She reminded them, speaking like a stern parent.

Raijin and Skyy couldn't help but chuckle to themselves at seeing the trio getting chewed out by their former instructor-turned-squad member, while Fujin sighed and looked away, possibly annoyed by the childish antics starting already.

Luckily for her, the trains' whistle and conductor let the group know the train was getting ready to depart, causing them to drop their squabble and get on board.

"Well I think that's our cue," Zell said hastily as he ducked around Quistis and ran into the train.

Seifer and Squall were not far behind, with Quistis following and chastising them till they were all inside the train.

Skyy and Raijin were still chuckling as they boarded the train, with Fujin behind them, dreading how the mission will go if this is how things are starting.

[Line Break]

Once the group was inside, and the three 'children' had finally settled down, no doubt due to Quistis' involvement, she showed the group the luxury sweet on the train meant for them. One of the SeeD perks the head master seemed to have forgotten to tell the group when they passed their exam.

"Whoa! Check it out," Zell said with child-like enthusiasm.

"Being a SeeD really does have it's perks, ya know?" Raijin said with equal enthusiasm.

Squall walked in and sat on the sofa that was in the room, with Seifer sitting on the other end, and Quistis went to sit on the bed.

_It's nice, but I've seen nicer, _Skyy thought to himself as he looked around, _but the company wasn't nearly as nice. _He smiled at the thought.

While everyone was talking amongst themselves, Skyy stepped outside of the room, and back to the rear room of the train. He took out his phone he brought with him and proceeded to make a call.

_Ring! Ring! Ring!_

"Pick up already," he said, tapping his foot impatiently.

"_Hello?" _A tired voice came from the other end.

"Finally," he sighed, "I take it you feel asleep during one of your experiments again?"

"_Yeah, sorry. I forgot you were going to call today."_

"Whatever, it's fine. Did you finish the research?"

"_Yeah. Personally, based on statistical analysis, I would go with the big guy over the hyper active half-pint, but the choice is up to you as always."_

"Naturally," he rolled his eyes, despite knowing the person on the other end couldn't see it.

"_Also, have you put your contacts in yet?"_

"No, not yet, I'll do it in a minute."

"_Don't forget. It took me forever to make that new pair for you."_

"I got it already, Jeez. I'm getting ready to put them in as we speak alright?"

After that, he hung up and pulled out the small box Ratchet had given him earlier that day with the contacts and head phones from his bag, but the door opening behind him caused him to quickly turn around and see Fujin stumbling out of the doorway and into the rear car, though she soon regained her balance.

"Er...Are you...Okay?" Skyy asked after noticing her stumble.

"AFFIRMATIVE." She quickly replied. She was okay physically speaking...though her pride after being seen like that is another story.

"Well...Okay then. But um...why were you-"

"CONCERNED." She cut him off before he could finish his question.

"Concerned?" he asked quizzically, "About what?"

"DISSAPEARED." She stomped her foot and pointed at him.

"Oh. Right. Sorry," he said, as he laughed sheepishly, "I had to make a call about...well...you'll find out later."

Fujin arched her eyebrow, curious about what he was talking about.

"Um..but why you're here...I need a favor," he said, his voice still somewhat sheepish.

"EXPLAIN."

"Well you see," he showed her the box with the contacts in it "I kinda..need help putting these in. I can't do it on my own without being able to see what I'm doing."

He blushed, embarrassed by not being able to simply put in a pair of contacts on his own. He half expected Fujin to start chuckling at him for needing help with it. But to his surprise she didn't. She walked over and grabbed the box and motioned for him to lean in. Skyy was about a head taller than her, so he had to bend down as well when he did, and she applied the contacts for him.

Skyy blinked for a moment, as his eyes got used to having the contacts in.

"Thanks Fujin," he said, showing her his usual smile.

"Why do you need them?" Fujin asked, catching Skyy off guard since she hadn't spoken a full sentence since the first time in his dorm when they met.

"Um..Well...these aren't exactly your normal prescription contacts," he gestured towards his eyes as he spoke, "They're special ones I asked Ratchet to make me based off of some of her great-grandads designs we found when we were younger. With a few modifications to go with the times of course. You see they work with these headphones," he grabbed the headphones from the box to show her, "and it works as a kind of..erm...computer I guess would be the easiest way to describe it."

Fujin didn't quite understand, but was showing that she was at least paying attention when he was speaking.

"And well...mainly I use them with my gloves when I'm using my flames. They can gauge my output for each one, so I don't put to much or to little energy into my moves. For example, do you remember the corkscrew thing I did against that robot during the SeeD exam?"

"AFFIRMATIVE." Fujin answered, nodding her head as she recalled when Skyy first used his flames in order to save her on the beach in Dollet.

"Well normally for that, I have to keep my flame output for each glove even the whole time, or else my momentum get's thrown off, and the move isn't as effective. Hence, why it was able to still move enough to blindside me after I hit it," he blushed, embarrassed again, after having to remember getting clobbered his first day at the garden, "And wasn't effective because...well...the last pair of contacts I had got damaged during a...training exercise...I was in before coming to the Garden, and so I've been having to use guess work to gauge my output until Ratchet could fix me up a new pair."

Fujin took all this in, and simply nodded to show she understood.

"Though they can do a few other things too. I can access known information of an area and can view a sort of...mini-map I guess you could call it, and I can scan a person or creature without having to use a spell."

After he was done speaking, it dawned on him that they had been away for quite some time, and should probably return to the others before they come looking for them.

He turned to tell Fujin this when the train came to a sudden halt, causing both of them to lose balance as Fujin jolted forward onto Skyy causing him to fall backwards onto the floor.

"APOLOGIES!" Fujin quickly said

"Don't worry, it was the trains fault," he said before smiling wrapping his arms around Fujins' waist, "and it's not like I mind this position anyways."

Fujin blushed, but smiled soon after, apparently okay with the position as well.

The two were leaning in closer and closer and fin-

"Hey guys the oth-"

Fujin jolted upright at the voice before she and Skyy turned to see Zell, having stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the compromising position before him.

"Zell," Skyy looked at him sternly, "Tell the others we were back here talking and are on our way back. You didn't see this."

"Understand?/UNDERSTAND?" Fujin and Skyy glared at him and unison.

"S-See what? Two** very good friends**," Skyy couldn't help but think the emphasis on that was directed towards him, "having a conversation? What's wrong with that? I'll just go tell the others you guys weren't kidnapped or wandering around somewhere now," Zell said, a sweat drop forming on his head as he backed out of the room.

"Talk about rotten timing," Skyy said as he raised up on his elbows "But at least it seems he isn't going to say anything."

"AFFIRMATIVE." Fujin agreed, though was still red from getting caught by Zell of all people like that.

The two looked at each other and decided to try again when a spiky blonde head popped back in.

"Um but we've arrived just so you two- ,"

"ZELL!" They shouted at him once more.

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**A/N**

Another slow chapter I know, just hang in there for one or two more "less-than-eventful" chapters and things will pick up I promise.

Hate it or like it, Reviews are love.


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